When he spoke to his mate, he became a different man than the rancher who ruled over his domain in the name of family. Judy softened him like no one else, not even his children, could. Adam had always found it amazing, how the need to care for and please your mate could turn a bear who always had a sore head into a cuddly teddy bear. OK, so that might be an exaggeration, but it wasn’t too far from the truth.
There were times when they were growing up, that the boys would spill noisily into a room to find their father reading to their mom while she sewed. He would talk quietly, his voice lilting, full of emotion, only for it to harden as he tried to control three headstrong boys. That wasn’t to say he hadn’t been a good father. Before they moved back to the Williams Homestead, he had always taken the time to teach his sons how to work with their hands. Each of Russell’s sons knew how to fix a car, fell a tree, and make something out of nothing, if they needed to, using bits of junk and a lot of ingenuity. Coming home to the ranch had hardened Russell.
Watching his dad now, as he took hold of his mate’s hand, and kissed it with a smile and a wink, made it clear what a mate meant. And how a mate could change a bear. He could feel it when he was near Lynn: he wanted to be something more, to strive to be better than he was. To be happier, so that she would be happier. To let go of the old feud, so that they could live together in harmony.
If only he could tap into that part of his father that was saved for Judy alone, he might be able to make him see reason. If not, Jordan’s visit might well signal a rift between him and his father, which the family did not need.
Better that than shutting your brothers out of the ranch business, his bear said.
True, Adam answered. We either drive a wedge between us and our father, or between us and our brothers.
We must be able to make him see reason, his bear answered.
We will try, Adam answered. We will try.
Adam, Jon, and their parents went out to meet the car as it drew up in front of the ranch house. His dad held his mom’s hand, squeezing it as if giving her comfort as they walked. In return, Judy turned and smiled at her husband, seeing something in the man no one else ever would. Just as Adam saw things in Lynn no one ever would. It made the bond all the more special.
The same bond that was evident between Jordan and Skyla, who looked as nervous as his mom.
This nervousness triggered something in Judy, who let go of Russell’s hand and took a couple of faltering steps toward her eldest son and his mate. “It’s so good to see you both.”
“It’s good to be here, Mom.” Jordan hugged Judy, while still holding on to Skyla, who looked as if she might bolt like one of the young fillies in the corral. Her eyes kept flickering to Russell’s, and then back to Judy.
“Don’t worry, he won’t bite,” Judy said, hugging Skyla.
“Oh, I didn’t…” Skyla began.
“Hello, Skyla,” Russell said, his tone friendly. “My reputation has a habit of preceding me.”
“And whose fault is that?” Judy asked, arching an eyebrow and looking more at ease.
“Mine. My sons think I’m a tyrant,” Russell said, his voice charming as he spoke to Skyla. Then he turned to Jordan and stepped forward to embrace his eldest son and pat him on the back. It was the most emotion Adam had ever seen in his father. “It’s good to see you looking so well, Jordan.”
“Thanks, Dad, it’s all due to my mate.” Jordan’s eyes filled with love as he looked at Skyla, who had been his nurse when he left the hospital to recuperate. Or, as he put it, get used to not having the use of my legs. Jordan had been lost until Skyla had found him.
“Give yourself some credit,” Skyla said. “You did it all yourself. You just needed a push in the right direction.”
“And what man doesn’t need a push in the right direction?” Judy asked.
“Very true, Judy.” Skyla stumbled over the name as if not sure what to call her mother-in-law.
“Call me Mom.” Judy, as usual, had tuned into her daughter-in-law’s uncertainty. “We’re family now.”
“And since you are the only daughter-in-law on the horizon, you two are going to have to band together to keep us boys in line,” Jordan said. “Unless my brothers have some news to share?”
A short silence, which was not missed on Skyla and Jordan, was ended with Judy saying, “Let’s go eat.”
“Yes. Your mom has been cooking your favorite. Roast beef,” Russell said. “Home raised, of course.”
As if he knew food was about to be served, Samuel appeared out of the ranch, his hair slicked back from where he’d just showered. “Good of you to join us, son,” Judy said.
“Sorry, Mom. I got sidetracked.”
“By a rabbit?” Jon asked.
“Boys,” Judy warned.
Adam and Samuel fell in beside Skyla as they walked inside the ranch house. Samuel was not the talkative type, so Adam tried to put his sister-in-law at her ease. “It’s good to see you again, Skyla. I never had a chance to speak to you much at the wedding.”
“It was a little hectic,” Skyla agreed. “Which is why it’s so good to come here and see the ranch. Jordan talks about it a lot.”
“Does he?” Adam asked, his interest piqued.
“Yes.” Skyla stopped walking and turned to Adam. “That does not mean he wants to take it over. We have a life in Bear Bluff, don’t worry about that.”
“I’m not worried. At least not in that way,” Adam said. “But it is something I want to talk to you both about.”
“What is?” Jordan asked, coming back to see if everything was all right with his wife.
“I wanted to talk to you, Sam, and Jon, about the ranch.” Adam stared at his father’s back. He had entered the dining room, and so they were free to talk, without being overheard. “But not at lunch. I thought after, we could all take a ride around the ranch. I wanted to propose something to you all, before I speak to Dad.”
“A ride?” Skyla said. “I’ve only sat on a horse a couple of times.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a quiet old ranch horse for you to ride,” Adam said.
“I’d love you to see the ranch, and you can’t see it better than from the back of a horse,” Jordan said.
“OK,” Skyla said. “On one condition.”
“Which is?” Adam asked, not sure he liked more conditions being laid down on him.
“You invite your mate along,” she said, her eyes dancing as shock covered his face.
“I knew it,” Jordan said. “When I said Skyla was the only daughter-in-law. Why isn’t she here?”
“Because Dad doesn’t know,” Adam said.
“Why? He would be happy,” Jordan said, his brow creasing. “What’s wrong with her that you don’t want Dad to know that you have found a woman to give you an heir?”
Skyla elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. “There is nothing wrong with her. I’m sure Adam has his own reasons. Some people like to keep things private, unlike Dylan and the rest of the guys you work with.”
“I do have my reasons,” Adam said.
“Are you all coming?” Jon asked, coming back to fetch them. “Dad is getting suspicious.”
“We’re coming,” Adam said, heading toward the dining room.
“So you’ll invite her?” Jordan said, his voice filled with curiosity.
“He told you?” Jon asked.
“About his mate, yes,” Jordan said.
Jon laughed. “Dad might finally get his wish.”
“What wish?” Skyla asked.
“Oh, he hasn’t actually told you who she is?” Jon asked.
“Jon, this can wait,” Adam said, about to do some rib-digging of his own.
“No, it can’t.” Jon took two quick steps back, putting himself out of reach of Adam’s elbow, and then said, quickly and quietly, “Adam’s mate is old man Hawkins’s grandniece.”
Samuel, who had kept quiet, cursed. “Hell, Adam, how the hell did you manage that?”
“It just happened,” Ada
m said quietly. “Didn’t it just happen for you, Jordan?”
“Yes,” Jordan said, catching hold of Skyla’s hand. “But why have you kept it quiet?”
“Because we’ve only just met, and she doesn’t know about… Well, the other side of us. And, I have no intention of taking back the Hawkins Ranch, no matter what Dad wants. She has plans for the place, and there is no way I am taking that away from her, even if it means I get disinherited.”
Skyla looped her arm through Adam’s. “I always knew I would like Jordan’s brothers.”
Together they walked into the dining room, leaving his brothers to follow. Adam could hear them talking quietly, but none of them said a word about Lynn throughout lunch. As he ate, Adam decided that it was right for Lynn to come on a ride around the ranch, since this decision should be hers, as well as his.
Maybe wanting to spend more time with her had something to do with it. OK, so a lot to do with it. He wanted to share in what his mom and dad and Jordan and Skyla had. He wanted her by his side in all things.
She was the other half of him. He just needed to make her see that. Without scaring her away.
Chapter Nine – Lynn
The day started well enough. If you considered more cleaning a good thing. By lunchtime the sense of satisfaction brought on by dusting a year or more’s worth of dust out of the sitting room was beginning to become jaded. Still she cleaned. Lynn desperately wanted the house clean, ready for when her furniture would be arriving tomorrow.
Tomorrow. With a groan, she renewed her efforts, scrubbing, scraping, and sweeping, until she thought it would never end. Without electricity, it was difficult, what she wouldn’t give to be able to plug in her vacuum cleaner, it would make life so much easier. The old boiler was struggling to cope too: the various noises emanating from it every time she showered or filled a fresh bucket ready for more cleaning, made it sound as if she had a beast in the house trying to get out. It was hard not to miss her apartment with all its modern conveniences, like a washing machine.
Lynn looked down at her clothes. They were close to ruined, the dirt and grime unlikely to ever come out. All of these gripes were ruses she was using to put a Band-Aid on the real issue. With each wipe of a cloth, or sweep of a brush, she struggled to deal with the thought of Uncle Freddy living here alone. The house had been closed up for a few months after his death, which explained a lot of the dirt, and Lynn suspected a few of the wild animals from the woods had made their home in the house over the winter months. However, even discounting that, some of the house would have been close to uninhabitable. There was mold in the corner of one of the upstairs bedrooms, which would have been bad for his health.
Lynn had added roofer to the list of people she had to call. The never-ending list.
“I should have been here for you, Uncle Freddy,” Lynn said, for the hundredth time.
“Are you still beating yourself up over that?” a voice said behind her.
Lynn whirled around. “Adam!”
“I thought I’d come check on you,” he said, looking nervous.
“I’m still here, if that’s what you mean.”
“And still cleaning.”
“I think I will be cleaning for the rest of my life,” she said theatrically, waving her cleaning cloth in the air.
“It’s looking good.” Adam nodded enthusiastically, his eyes sweeping around the room. “If it makes you feel better, your uncle didn’t use this room very much.”
“He didn’t?” Lynn asked.
“No. He kept himself mainly to the kitchen and the dining room. We brought his bed down for him when he struggled with the stairs. The rest of the house was closed up.”
“I saw the bed in the dining room. And it wasn’t so dirty in there,” Lynn said.
“We did what we could for him. He was a proud old man, didn’t accept help too eagerly. We’d clean up as much as he’d let us. Although that is a secret best kept from my father,” Adam said.
“Your secret is safe with me,” she said, smiling at him, enjoying having someone to talk to. Someone other than herself. “And since I am your dad’s least favorite person for not selling the ranch to him, I don’t think I’m going to be seeing him any time soon to tell.”
Adam came into the room, and stood in front of her. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“What? To make me sell?” she asked, not in the mood for a fight with the man she was beginning to look forward to seeing each day. “Or to take me to your father so he can persuade me to part with the house before my furniture arrives?”
“Not to make you sell. But yes, to take you home with me. Or at least on a ride, across the Williams Homestead, with my brothers.”
“I don’t belong there. I’m the enemy, aren’t I?” She turned back to her cleaning, her face burning at the thought of having to mix with Adam’s brothers. They were a close-knit bunch, from what Adam had said, and she would be an outsider. However, the thought of escaping the ranch and getting some fresh, dust-free air was going to make it hard to say no.
“If I promise to come back and help you clean later, will you please come with us?”
“A ride? With your family?” she asked. “Why? So you can all gang up on me?”
“No. Nothing like that.” He took a deep breath, and then said, “You know what I’m planning. And I thought you might be able to help me talk my brothers into it.”
“Why would they listen to me?” Lynn frowned. “We’ve just met. And they don’t know me at all.” Lynn had a sneaking suspicion she was falling into some kind of trap.
“Your opinion would be important to them.”
“I’m an outsider.”
“Exactly.” Adam came close to her, his breath warm on her skin as he leaned forward and said softly. “You can give them the voice of unbiased reason. You can tell them what it’s like to strike out on a new path.”
“You mean, I can tell them what happens when you go against your parents’ wishes?” Lynn asked, her frown deepening.
“Please. I need your support.”
“My support?” She shook her head. “What will that count for?”
“A lot. It’s hard for me to explain right now,” Adam said.
“Try,” Lynn said bluntly.
He looked down at the carpet she had spent all morning cleaning, and then said, “If we were together.” He pointed to her, and then to himself. “And this was our decision. Would you agree it is the fairest way to handle the ranch? An equal share, like I told you yesterday?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“And that is why I want you there. They will want to know your opinion.”
“Why?” Lynn pressed, unsure if she wanted to know the answer. Adam’s behavior often felt as if it were veering close to him being a stalker. It was as if he had decided they were going to be together, and he was just waiting for her to catch up.
“A woman’s point of view.”
“OK.”
“OK?” he asked, surprised at her acceptance.
“Yes. Although you owe me man-hours, in return.”
“Great.” He looked satisfied, but he had no idea what she had in mind. The furniture all needed rearranging before her own furniture arrived. It was a tough task alone, and she would appreciate his help.
“I’ll go get changed,” she said, leaving him alone in the sitting room and running upstairs to put on some clean clothes. Jeans and a sweater should do it. Horseback riding was something she had spent several summers learning when she was in her teens. It had been her refuge from the hotel, sun on her face, a horse between her legs, and the urge to just keep going and never come back.
There was a chance she might have forgotten how to ride after so long. She might be about to make a huge fool of herself, but at least she would see Adam’s true colors if she did and he laughed at her. Which was the whole reason she had agreed to go with him, she lied to herself. Lynn was beginning to miss some of the hustle and bustle of the hotel, but that w
as hard for her to admit.
This little adventure was going to be her way of finding out exactly what was going on with Adam, and how she fit into his plans. Lynn hoped that by meeting his family, she would get an insight into the real goings-on over at the Williams Homestead. If there really was a plot to get her to sell her new home, then she was going to see it laid bare.
“Let’s see if he really is the nice guy he wants me to think he is,” Lynn said to her reflection, satisfied she looked presentable if she came face-to-face with Adam’s father. “And what if he is?” she asked herself, leaning forward and peering at herself. The face that looked back at her said it all. If he was a nice guy, and he was willing to make this kind of effort, and involve her in his life when he had no need to, then she was going to give him a chance.
Life was all about taking risks; that was what she had done when she left her old life. Maybe Adam was lucky and he had this love at first sight thing down to a science, even if that was a contradictory notion.
“Live and learn. Love and learn,” Lynn told herself. Then she turned and ran back downstairs to find Adam waiting in the kitchen. He was looking at the tiles on the floor.
“I didn’t know these were here,” he said.
“They were hidden under some old linoleum,” Lynn said. “I pulled it up and cleaned them off. They are beautiful and unusual. I love the bears and the wolves. And the crescent moons. I suspect they have been here since the house was built.”
Adam bent down and touched a tile that showed a bear gazing upward; there was a tile positioned above it to give the idea that the bear was staring at the moon. “He looks moonstruck.”
“He does.” She watched him as he moved across to place his hand on the wolf. “My dad would love to see these. I think my great-great-grandmother made them. She had a workshop over at the Homestead. There are similar ones in the kitchen there.”
“She made them? By hand?” Lynn asked. “What do they mean?”
“Mean?” he asked, standing up and looking at her, his expression strange, distant.
“Yes. The moon and the wolf, well, that’s common. But a bear?”
Adam looked down at them again. “The moon is a symbol of the shift. The bear is my great-grandfather. The wolf is my great-grandmother.”
Cowboy Bear Blues: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Cowboy Brother Bear Book 1) Page 6
